Tanzania: President Kikwete vows to implement APRM governance reports
By Special Correspondent – President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania has reiterated the confidence of his government with the Africa’s governance assessment body-the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) and promised that his government is ready to implement recommendations from APRM reports.
President Jakaya Kikwete in a group photo with the visit APRM country review team during the launch of the mission to Tanzania on 7 March, 2012. The team has finally completed its review work in Tanzania and will issue its report in mid April. (Photo courtesy of Dar es Salaam State House)
President Kikwete issued the commitment at State House in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday evening during a de-briefing session with the visiting APRM Country Review Mission lead by one of Africa’s Eminent Persons, Cameroonian legal scholars, Barrister Akere Muna.
The President, who had launched the review team at Dar es Salaam State House on 7 March, told the panelists that he will wait for their recommendations so that his government can respond to the issues before implementing the National Plan of Action.
“APRM is like a mirror that helps us to see ourselves where we are and what we have achieved in terms of ensuring democratic leadership and good governance in our countries.
“It is against this truth that we are more than ready to implement your recommendations when the right time comes,” said the President. The Review team is expected to leave Dar es Salaam on 23 March after three weeks of consultations with both state and non-state actors in Tanzania.
Apart from Barrister Muna, the 20 members team consisted of some of the Africa’s finest and to notch experts in diverse areas in the names of an economist of world fame, Prof. Abdul Aziz Jalloh who also taught many Tanzanian leaders at UDSM including the President, East Africa’s top political scientist and one of Mwalimu Nyerere’s close academic friends, Prof. Ahmed Muhiddin and former political advisor of former Zambia President, Rupiah Banda, Dr. Francis Chigunta, an Oxford and Cambridge alumni.
Briefing the President on the teams work in Tanzania, Barrister Muna said they visited nine regions and met with welcoming locals who shared a lot with the team. He thanked Tanzanians for their generous and hospitality.
Earlier on, highlighting to the President on the lessons leant during the initial implementation of the APRM governance assessment process in Tanzania, the APRM Tanzania chairman of the National Governing Council (NGC), Prof. Hasa Mlawa, said the government should intensify civic education for its people.
He also asked President Kikwete to strengthen the capacity of the APRM Tanzania NGC and National Secretariat in terms of technical, human and financial resources so as to strengthen its capacity for the forthcoming work of monitoring the implementation of the National Program of Action that will address how the government deals with the identified governance gaps.
